Your Market Research Checklist

There are so many things business owners need to be aware of, and one of these is your market. Knowing the market you sit within is extremely imporatant to maximise use of your service or sales of products. We recently read an article on Start Up Donut which gave a condensed checklist of things to be aware of when completing research on your market as follows:

• Decide how quickly you need the information and how accurate it must be.
• Focus on research which will help you make better decisions.
• Use your research to make decisions and plan strategy
• Work out what you need to know and whether you need an in-depth understanding or simple numerical results.
• Ask your customers who they see as your competition and why they use you.
• If necessary, invest in surveys, observation and experiments to back up decisions.
• Regularly update your understanding of customers and market conditions.
• Set up your research with a clear brief, including objectives, deadlines and any important background information.
• Decide whether you have the expertise to carry out larger research projects yourself or need to use an external agency or freelance researcher.
• Make full use of easily accessed information from internal records, employee and customer feedback, publications and the internet.
• Analyse research results carefully and objectively.
• Be prepared to carry out further research if the information you have is insufficient or out of date.